TUCP expects wage increase this month or next

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) is expecting a wage increase before month’s end or the first week of July.

TUCP spokesman Alex Aguilar said the various regional wage boards have already conducted separate sectoral consultations and are in the process of finalizing their respective studies of regional economic indicators.

"Based on experience, the wage boards by this time already have an idea (as to) how much the increases would be, and would only need to validate these figures using various economic indicators and the willingness of the employers," he said.

On the other hand, Rebecca Calzado, National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) officer-in-charge, said the regional tripartite wages and productivity board in the National Capital Region is expected to issue a wage order for minimum wage earners as soon as it has completed the critical procedures needed for wage determination this month or early July.

"The wage boards continuously monitor economic conditions and may issue new wage orders even without petitions to alleviate the plight of minimum wage earners," she said.

Calzado said that immediately after the NCR wage board concludes its public hearing on June 21, it will deliberate and decide on the amount, form, coverage and starting date of the wage grant.

The NCR wage board completed its sectoral consultation and has conducted its first wage deliberation last week, she added.

She did not give a timetable but clarified that under the law, they are required to complete the hearing of petitions within 45 days after the first hearing has been conducted.

They have another 30 days to come up with a wage order and another 15 days for the publication of the decision in newspapers, she added.

Calzado said the majority of the regional boards, which is composed of representatives from the labor, employer and the government sector, are winding up their tasks of reviewing the petitions for wage hikes filed by labor groups.

Wage boards in Central Luzon and Northern Mindanao have scheduled their formal public hearings later this month. Those in the Cagayan Valley, Central Visayas and the Cordillera Administrative Region are slated to conduct hearings early July, she added.

The TUCP led the filing of a petition for a P75 minimum wage increase before the Metro Manila wage board and some other parts of the country.

Earlier, the NWPC announced that the NCR wage board would come out with a decision on the wage hike petition filed by labor groups after it completed the process of determining the amount, form, coverage and effectivity.

Last week, the NWPC conducted a wage orientation with representatives of various government agencies and sectoral organizations to determine socio-economic factors that could warrant the issuance of wage hike orders.

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry reportedly said it is willing to adjust wages within "reasonable limits."

President Arroyo has instructed the regional wage boards to speed up consultations with workers, employers and other concerned sectors, particularly in regions where no wage petition has been submitted.

Under the law, the regional wage boards can hold public hearings and raise the minimum wage rates on their own or even in the absence of any wage petition, if the prevailing wage rate is found insufficient to cope with the cost of living and other economic conditions in certain regions. — James Mananghaya